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Archives for June 2016

Contrary to popular belief, most tea comes from the same plant. This obviously isn’t the case for plant specific teas such as mint tea, chamomile tea, and chrysanthemum tea (actually, there are people who argue these aren’t legitimate teas, just herbal infusions); however, common teas like black, white, oolong, and green all come from the Camellia sinensis plant. The Camellia sinensis is a shrub or small tree from which the leaves, leaf buds, and even stems can be used to make different teas.

Leaves and Flowers of Tea PlantTea Plantation

The reason there can be so many tea varieties produced from a single plant lies in the fact that there are infinitely many ways you can change the production process, starting with the geographic location of the plant and when you pick the leaves. The location in which the tea plants are grown significantly varies the gustatory qualities—Darjeeling is grown from a cool and wet region in the foothills of the Himalayas and Wu-Long is grown on mountainous regions near the Tropic of Cancer in Taiwan (many high quality teas as grown at high elevations because it slows the growth of the plant allowing for more extended flavour development). The time during which the tea is picked matters as well—when picked in the early spring, tea is light and aromatic, while summer teas have a stronger bite with some bitterness, and autumn teas are of a lesser quality in terms of intensity in taste. Some of the rarest teas are so expensive because they are either grown in a very select and extremely small location, or are only picked at impeccably precise and limited windows (the green tea I carry around with me is picked extremely early in the budding process). For example, Da Hong Pao is grown in the Wuyi rock mountains of China, and is a dark oolong tea. Legend has it that a dowager empress of the Ming dynasty was cured of an illness by tea grown from bushes in these mountains, and six of those original bushes are (reportedly) still alive today. Tea produced from these bushes is valued even more highly than gold because of the rarity.

These are the legendary bushes

Once the leaves are picked, they are processed; processing is the second step during which teas can differentiate. Leaves are typically laid out to wither to reduce water content; green tea leaves are usually steamed or baked instead so the leaves remain green. Next, the tea leaves are rolled to not only shape the leaves, but break down cell structures to release aromatic oils and juices from the leaves. This ensures that the leaves oxidize more evenly in the next step, and helps create flavor.

Sun-drying Pu-erh Tea

Then the leaves are oxidized; this is a chemical reaction in which oxygen combines with molecules in the tea leaves, it’s similar to how metal rusts over time or how an apple turns brownish when left out. Put quite simply, the darker the color of tea leaves and tea, the more oxidized they have been. Thus, light teas like green tea and white tea experience very little oxidation while dark teas like black tea experience significant oxidation.

Diagram of different oxidation levels

Finally, the tea is dried to stop the oxidation process and then packaged for consumption! I tend to drink loose leaf tea, but packaged teas (in little baggies or tea temples) go through additional processing. I hope this was an enlightening journey through the tea-making process; the next time you have a nice cup of tea you will know the basics of how it was made! In fact, if you are so intrigued that you’d like to try your hand at making your own tea, you can look into buying your own tea plants as well. Thanks for reading; come back next time to keep exploring the world of tea!

Green, white, black, oolong, chrysanthemum, chai, mint, barley, and endless other varieties galore, tea is a custom that crosses international borders and constantly evolves to satisfy the thirst of modern times while maintaining ancient traditions. Whether you carefully brew your tea from loose leaves in a fragile celadon teapot or get it to go with extra sugar syrup and cream from Starbucks, whether you prefer English Breakfast or Mount Jun Silver Needle, you are partaking in a practice developed thousands of years ago.

Traditional Korean Celadon TeapotStarbucks!

You may be wondering how this whole tradition of dropping plants into hot water got started, and the answer is nobody really knows. There are two popular legends surrounding the origins of tea; both legends place the beginnings in ancient China. According to one legend, the first cup of tea was brewed in 2737 B.C. when a cup of boiling water was served to Emperor Shen Nung. Some leaves from a nearby tree blew into his cup and, voilà, tea! The Emperor was so pleased with the crisp, delicate taste that he made drinking tea a regular practice that spread throughout China

Green Tea

Another popular legend dates the birth of tea even earlier, about 5,000 years ago. It is said that Shennong, the legendary inventor of Chinese agriculture and medicine, was testing the medicinal properties of dozens of herbs in order to find cures to illnesses. One day he rather unfortunately consumed 72 poisonous herbs and, severely poisoned, laid down to rest underneath a small, delicate tree. As the wind blew around him, a leaf fell from the tree and landed near Shennong who, surprised by the intense scent of the leaf, ate it (sidenote, you should never go around eating random leaves that fall near you, no matter how delicious they smell. I’m sure you know that already, but I figured I’d remind you just in case). After chewing on the leaf he realized that he no longer felt sick, and hailed the tea leaf as curative and detoxifying medicine for the Chinese people.

Traditional Chinese Painting of Tea Ceremony

After the “invention,” the practice of drinking tea became integrated into everyday Chinese life and intertwined itself into common philosophical beliefs of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Tea ceremonies developed to symbolize a calm, pure, and enlightened mindset as tea became connected with immortality and longevity (due to its medicinal nature). It also became associated with the ideas of frugality and self-discipline because, as many kinds of tea were very cheap (excluding very rare teas served to the emperor), drinking tea was a rejection of the expensive and luxurious.

Over centuries, the practice of making, brewing, and serving tea developed to become more refined and varied—some tea farmers developed cake teas (where tea leaves are packed and carved into delicate artistic bricks) and found different ways of growing tea plants and treating the leaves to create hundreds of new kinds of tea. As scholars from the Asian continent and beyond traveled to China, the custom of tea drinking spread around the world.

Yes, this brick is made of tea leaves! To drink, you break off a tiny piece of the brick and crumble it into boiling water.

Whichever legend you prefer, the tea drinking community generally agrees upon the fact that tea originated thousands of years ago in China and spread across Asia and the other continents until many civilizations throughout history developed their own tea customs. Thus, we find Moroccan Mint tea, Japanese Matcha tea, Indian Masala Chai, Turkish Cay tea, Tibetan Po Cha, Mongolian Suutei Tsai, and dozens of other traditional teas that have been incorporated into various histories. Even if you don’t care much for traditional teas, modern companies have developed fresh new teas for the fast-paced new age, marketing tea detoxes, tea energy drinks, to-go tea drinks (AriZona Tea anyone?), and unique flavored teas like Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Cake. Throughout the course of this blog, I hope to discuss some aspects of tea you may not have thought about before, so stay tuned!